Carter is a Republican. Gary is a Democrat.

They met in 1984, during the epic U.S. Senate battle between Jesse Helms and Jim Hunt. Carter worked for Helms and Gary, for Hunt.

Years later, they became friends. They even worked together on some nonpolitical clients.

They enjoy talking about politics. So they started this blog in 2005.

They’re still talking. And they invite you to join the conversation.

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Carter Wrenn

Gary Pearce 2024

Gary Pearce

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Supreme Politics

By Gary Pearce September 6, 2023

My lawyer and judge friends may rule me out of order, but I believe Democratic candidates for the state Supreme Court should tell voters where they stand on fundamental constitutional issues. They should say that women have a constitutional right to abortion, that gerrymandering and voter suppression are unconstitutional, and that the legislature hasn’t met…

They’re Fed Up

By Gary Pearce September 4, 2023

The instantly iconic front page of The Daily Tar Heel tells you three things about their generation: They’re fed up with gun violence and school lockdowns They’re fed up with politicians who protect guns, not people They’re so fed up they printed the text “GUYS I’M SO FUCKING SCARED” in big, bold red type. That…

PPP to the Rescue

By Gary Pearce September 1, 2023

I certainly don’t begrudge the Raleigh consultants who took PPP relief during the pandemic. If they’d gone under, the economic consequences could have been devastating for certain Capital City watering holes, fine dining establishments and upscale clothing stores. Danielle Battaglia revealed the deals in The News & Observer (“How US allowed pandemic relief to go…

St. Paul to Titus

By Carter Wrenn August 30, 2023

To rescue a church at war with itself Paul wrote Titus: ‘When a man stirs up division warn him once, warn him a second time, then have nothing more to do with him.’ (Titus, 3:10) Titus was from Greece. The divided church was in ancient Crete. Today political civil wars rule the news – you…

Fight Back. Vote.

By Gary Pearce August 30, 2023

Since Monday’s shooting at UNC, the gun lobby’s flacks, flunkies and apologists have been furiously tweeting/X’ing to justify inaction. One state legislator said “it’s a mental health and woke society issue.” A long-time Republican operative saw a dark link between Covid, Wuhan and the UNC lab. Another, mightily offended that Congressman Jeff Jackson said “our…

Mark Misquoted?

By Gary Pearce August 28, 2023

Pardon back-to-back blogs on Mark Robinson, but he says he was misquoted. By his autobiography. In the 2022 autobiography, “We Are The Majority,” the Republican candidate for governor said K-5 education should focus exclusively on reading, writing and math: “In those grades, we don’t need to be teaching social studies. We don’t need to be…

Governor Bonkers

By Gary Pearce August 25, 2023

Way back in the 1970s, Jerry Brown got tagged as “Governor Moonbeam” in California for far-out ideas that turned out far-seeing, like environmental consciousness and the state launching its own space satellite. Mark Robinson would be Governor Bonkers. A HuffPost article, “The Unbelievably Bonkers Conspiracy Theorist Running For Governor Of North Carolina,” collected some of…

Great News About the Economy

By Gary Pearce August 23, 2023

One of my favorite reads every week is Dan Barkin’s Tuesday report in the Business North Carolina Daily Digest, for gems like this: “There were 44% fewer manufacturing jobs in our state last year than in 1990. Some of the decline was automation, some of it was due to competition from low-wage countries like China.…

What Matters Most?

By Carter Wrenn August 23, 2023

Ron DeSantis’ SuperPac told him in the debate he should: 1) ‘Defend Trump’ and 2) ‘Take a sledgehammer to Vivek Ramaswamy.’ That was his political guru’s practical advice. But there’s a more important question. Trump’s convinced Republicans Biden ‘stole the election.’ During the debate Pence or Christie or Hutchinson may ask Trump: You said 30,000…

We’re Moving to Substack

By Gary Pearce May 28, 2026

Carter Wrenn and I are moving to Substack. That’s where you’ll find our blogs in the…

Political Shots Fired

By Gary Pearce April 28, 2026

The political sniping began even as chaos still reigned at the White House Correspondents Dinner. My…

Obama 48-Trump 39

By Gary Pearce April 26, 2026

A new nationwide poll shows that, if they could run against each other in 2028, Barack…